The Pool Malebo, formerly Stanley Pool, also known as Mpumbu, Lake Nkunda or Lake Nkuna by local indigenous people in pre-colonial times, is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River."Malebo Pool"
'' Encyclopædia Britannica''. Accessed June 2011. The river serves as the border between the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

on the north and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south. The pool's former name was in honour of the British explorer and journalist Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who mapped this area.

History

In the late 19th century, British colonists named this natural feature Stanley Pool, after British explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who had mapped and reported on this region. When a railway was constructed nearby, a plaque was installed at Palaba to commemorate the rail line connecting Matadi to

Stanley Pool The Pool Malebo, formerly Stanley Pool, also known as Mpumbu, Lake Nkunda or Lake Nkuna by local indigenous people in pre-colonial times, is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River.

Description

The Pool Malebo is about long, wide and in

surface area The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of arc ...

. Its central part is occupied by

M'Bamou Mbamu (also: M´Bamou and Bamu) is an island in the Pool Malebo, a large lake formed by a widening in the River Congo. The island is territory of the Republic of the Congo (Congo Brazzaville). Mbamu is a demilitarized zone under the neutral reg ...

or Bamu Island (), which is

territory. The pool is shallow with depths of 3–10 m. But water levels may vary by as much as 3 m over the course of a year, because of seasonal flooding. The altitude here is an average of .

Geography

The capitals of the

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo —

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...

and

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, respectively— are located on opposite shores of the southern part of Pool Malebo. These two capital cities are the closest geographically of any in the world (other than the contiguous Rome, Italy and Vatican City). The Pool is the beginning of the navigable part of the Congo River upstream to the cities of Mbandaka, Kisangani and Bangui. Downstream, navigation of the river is blocked by its descent through hundreds of meters in a series of

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

known as the Livingstone Falls.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , Vol. Two The river reaches sea level at the port of Boma, Congo, after a passage of 300 km.

Ecology

Flora

There are many palm and papyrus swamps along the edges of the river and pool. Floating mats of '' Eichhornia'' plants move on the river and drift through the pool."Malebo Pool"

"Freshwater Ecoregions of the World"
The Nature Conservancy. Accessed June 2011.

Fish

Most fish endemic to the area are catfishes, including the mountain catfish, ''L. brieni'', '' Leptoglanis mandevillei'', ''L. bouilloni'' and '' Atopochilus chabanaudi'', an upside-down catfish. More than 200 fish species have been documented. Mormyrids are the most common, with over 40 species, and have the highest diversification. PoolMalebo.jpg, Aerial view of Pool Malebo from above Kinshasa Congo Map by Stanley.jpg, Stanley's route is depicted by the solid black line. DUPONT(1889) pg751 Panorama du Stanley Pool.jpg, View of Stanley Pool from Leopoldville, 1889 (now Kinshasa)

References

Congo River Malebo Malebo Malebo Malebo Malebo Freshwater ecoregions of Africa {{DRCongo-geo-stub